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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 335

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Where is class in sociolinguistics research?

Authors: Block, David Martin
Submitted by: Block, David Martin (Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom)

In recent years, many sociolinguists have adopted identity as the central construct in their work. In doing so, they have followed a general trend in the social sciences in general. And as has been the case in the social sciences in general, sociolinguists have tended to adopt a cultural-based view of identity which is consistent with goings-on in the economically advanced nation-states of the world (and particularly in the Anglophone world), where there has been growing interest in what is commonly known as 'identity politics' (although another and perhaps more appropriate term used by Nancy Fraser and others is 'recognition'). The self-conscious approach to identity has revolved around particular inscriptions, with a bias in favour of gender, race, ethnicity and increasingly sexuality. What has been left to the side is an interest in the identities linked to the material bases of human existence, in particular class (which would be consistent with what Fraser and others would call ‘redistribution'). This recent interest in identity without class among sociolinguists may be seen as surprising, if one considers how some of the most important early work in sociolinguistics (e.g. Labov, Trudgill and others) was very much about the relationship between class and language use. In this paper, I argue that class needs to be brought centre stage into sociolinguistics research focussing on identity. I begin with a short discussion of what class means and how the construct has evolved over the past 150 years. I then present a history of class as a central construct in sociolinguistics, ending my survey with a discussion of the work of Ben Rampton, who in recent years has been one of handful or researchers to carry the torch for research into the interrelationships between class and language practices. I end with some concrete ideas about how class might be more central to future identity-based research in sociolinguistics.